


Q's Conundrum

by Evil_Potato_Monster



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Eventual Smut, M/M, Q-card
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:40:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28097808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Potato_Monster/pseuds/Evil_Potato_Monster
Summary: Q realizes he's no longer satisfied with just being Captain Picard's enemy.
Relationships: Jean-Luc Picard/Q
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	Q's Conundrum

Captain Picard was sitting at his desk in his ready room, a computer pad in one hand, a steaming mug of earl gray in the other. He was filing some very important reports on his crew’s latest mission when a flash of white light brought his full attention to Q. The entity appeared sitting at the edge of the captain’s desk with his usual mock Starfleet garb and a snide grin across his face.

“Greetings mon Capitaine! How good it is to see you again!”

Picard nearly spat out the tea he had been in the midst of drinking. Sitting his tea and pad aside the captain sighed. He knew the reports would have to wait.

“I wish I could say the same to you Q, but as your visits are almost always entirely unwelcome I suggest we skip the pleasantries and cut to the part where you tell me what you want so I can get on with my life.”

Q dramatically grasped his chest over his nonexistent heart in mock offense.

“How rude! And here I’ve come to you out of my own goodwill when I could be doing anything else in the universe. You should be grateful you know that I even bother stopping by at all considering I’m practically a god and all, and how rude you always are.”

Picard pinched the bridge of his nose. It’d been less than two minutes since Q’s arrival and the captain could already feel his irritation rising.

“If stopping by is such a nuisance then why bother? Why come back at all?”

Q scoffed.

“And miss your delightful rebuttals and angry exclamations? I wouldn’t dream of it mon chéri!”

“Q what do you want? I don’t have time for your games!”

Q got up from the desk and crossed his arms.

“Well I wanted to spend some time with my favorite snippy mortal, maybe help you unwind a little, you're always so uptight you know. But if you keep up the sass maybe I’ll just go cause some mischief for your precious crew to deal with instead.”

Picard stood. 

“Do you honestly expect me to believe you came here just to spend some time with me? You who have the power to go anywhere, do anything at your slightest whim, want to help me, a sniveling worthless mortal, as you so often seem inclined to point out, with no ulterior motives?”

“Yes! That is exactly what I’m proposing.”

Picard walked up to Q.

“And what could you possibly hope to gain from that?”

Q leaned in and stared at him firmly.

“Your trust.”

Picard actually laughed in Q’s face.

“Trust you? After everything, you’ve done to me and my crew? Come now Q you can’t be serious. What’s this really about?”

Q looked genuinely offended for a brief moment, then he just looked pissed off.

“Trust is what this is about Picard! Why can’t you just believe that? I want to spend time with you because I want your company! I want you to trust me. You’re the only person in the universe that has the audacity to stand up to me, to not fear me and I want you on my side. You’re willful, passionate, and fascinating, and I can’t stop thinking about you. It’s incredibly annoying. I have all the time and power in the universe. I can literally do anything! And yet I keep coming back here, to you. Do you have any idea how infuriating that is?”

Q slumped against a wall, drained.

“The other members of the continuum laugh at me because you’re practically all I talk about these days. They call me obsessed! And... they’re right.”

Q laughed sadly.

“I shouldn’t care about any mortal. If it was anyone else I’d just use my powers and force them to trust me, to like me, or better yet I’d just wipe them from existence so I don’t have to feel these disgustingly mortal sentiments or deal with this weird aching I feel when I think about you. It’s painful and I hate it and I hate myself for feeling it. It’s pathetic really. I thought that if I spent some more time with you gained your trust, your friendship, perhaps this ache would go away. But if you really want me to go. I’ll go. And you won’t have to deal with me ever again. I promise.”

Captain Picard stared at Q dumbstruck. After a moment he sighed and put his hand on Q’s shoulder.

“Q if you really want my trust and company I’m willing to give you a chance, but if you ever hurt or harass a member of my crew again, or interfere with our missions, then I don’t realistically see how a companionship with you could work. If you want me to trust you then you’re going to have to make a conscious effort to not interfere with my work and crew. In return, I’ll make an effort to spend time with you and we can be… friends.”

Q’s face lit up and he hugged the captain tightly a moment then let him go.

“Thank you, Jean-Luc! I’ll take that challenge. A chance is all I’m asking for.”

Picard sat back down at his desk and picked up his pad.

“I should be done with these reports in about a half-hour then you and I can spend some time together.”

“I could just take us out of time and-”

Picard gave him a look.

“Or thirty minutes from now is fine too…”

Q blinked out of the room.

Picard went back to his work and sighed. That was a lot to unpack and he wasn’t sure how to feel about what Q had just admitted. He wasn’t sure if Q even understood what he seemed to be saying, but one thing was certain. For better or worse things were going to change.


End file.
